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USF Bulls fall to Memphis Tigers

 
Bulls coach Willie Taggart can’t bear to look after Memphis scores a touchdown in the third quarter to lead 17-10.
Bulls coach Willie Taggart can’t bear to look after Memphis scores a touchdown in the third quarter to lead 17-10.
Published Oct. 3, 2015

TAMPA — They held a players-only meeting and engaged in three full-contact bye-week practices in an effort to regain the focus and zeal they were missing two weekends ago at Maryland.

On Friday night, the USF Bulls were so emotionally juiced at the outset of their game against Memphis, it seemed to ooze from their garish green and gold uniforms. Those who have followed this beleaguered team the past few seasons might even have sworn they were observing some sort of pulp fiction.

Until, that is, reality set in: All that juice the Bulls brandished still lacked offensive fizz.

Leading unbeaten Memphis by three at halftime, the Bulls couldn't muster a knockout punch from their conservative play pamphlet as the Tigers rallied for a 24-17 triumph.

"There's some things I would've taken back and wished I could've done better," said USF coach Willie Taggart, whose close-to-the-vest play-calling elicited periodic choruses of boos from the announced Raymond James Stadium crowd of 22,546.

"I told our team, put that one on me. I could've done some things better for them to help them in that game."

The Tigers (5-0, 2-0 American Athletic Conference), who lost two players during the game to targeting-related ejections, sealed things on 6-foot-7 junior quarterback Paxton Lynch's 55-yard touchdown pass to Doro­land Dorceus with 10:39 to play.

A fringe Heisman Trophy candidate from Deltona, Lynch finished with 305 passing yards and two touchdowns, but he was sacked twice and harassed regularly. But USF (1-3, 0-1) couldn't capitalize on what Taggart deemed a "fanatical" defensive effort that held Memphis to less than half of its season scoring average (53.8).

Facing the nation's 103rd-ranked defense, USF totaled 162 yards on its first two drives, then didn't sniff the red zone again until quarterback Quinton Flowers' 23-yard scoring strike over the middle to tight end Elkanah Dillon with 1:49 to play. Downfield Flowers shots, such as the touchdown to Dillon and a 39-yarder over the middle to tight end Sean Price, were few in quantity.

Flowers finished 17-for-26 for 199 yards, one touchdown and an interception on USF's final possession with a chance to tie.

"I think in hindsight I would've liked to do a lot more, especially from a play-calling standpoint in the third quarter," Taggart said. "I felt like I probably could've loosened the defense up a little bit to help us run the ball a little more."

That extended Bulls funk contrasted with an early flourish.

Six plays after Lynch took his first snap of the night, the Tigers punted. USF followed with a 12-play, 95-yard drive, capped by Darius Tice's 1-yard TD run. Sophomore running back Marlon Mack, whom Taggart vowed to get more involved offensively after a 12-carry cameo at Maryland, had 28 of his 107 rushing yards on the possession.

By the end of USF's second possession, the Bulls had 162 total yards and a 10-0 lead.

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Memphis answered when Lynch found running back Sam Craft behind middle linebacker Auggie Sanchez for a 20-yard scoring pass, but the Bulls defense — at full strength for the first time all season — embarked on a stretch of stinginess from there.

The Tigers began their next four possessions in USF territory but came away with nothing more than a 50-yard Jake Elliott field goal.

The Bulls, however, couldn't capitalize, eliciting boos as the zone-read handoffs — and punts — accumulated.

USF punted seven consecutive times after Emilio Nadelman's 31-yard field goal at 14:56 of the second quarter, not counting a drive that ended with the halftime horn. One of the punts came on fourth and 1 from the Bulls' 46 with the score still tied at 10.

"It wasn't good field position," Taggart said of the decision to punt. "We were on our side of the field against a potent offense, and our defense was playing really well."

From there, the Tigers — and hindsight — prevailed. "We've got to come through with a win," Mack said. "We're sick and tired of being close and tired of people saying we're close."